1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to removable seating systems of the type wherein all or part of a seat may be removed or otherwise disengaged from a secure connection location, such as but not limited to vehicle seats that me be removed or disengage for folding from a vehicle mounted seat frame assembly.
2. Background Art
The present invention relates to removable seating systems of the type wherein all or part of a seat may be removed or otherwise disengaged from a secure connection location, such as but not limited to vehicle seats that me be removed or disengage for folding from a vehicle mounted seat frame assembly. Such systems may include removable, movable or foldable (hide able) seat bottoms and backs.
The need for monitoring some variables in the seat (seat-belt buckle, occupancy sensor, seat anchoring to body platform . . . ) may require a logical link (and even a power connection) between seat and vehicle chassis. However, the use of physical connection for an electric circuit is not recommended due to possible quality problems appearing from the limited mating-life of connectors that would lead to malfunction after a few assemblies and disassemblies of the seats.
Furthermore, the need for manual mating of these connectors transfers the responsibility to the end user (driver or passenger), which may not be desired by the OEM. Some self-aligning connectors have been developed to avoid user participation, but these self-matching devices may still have the problem of the limited number of mating—un-mating actions.